Your Port Townsend to Port Ludlow Real Estate Agent

Small Communities on the Quimper Peninsula:

We are best known for the artistic, Victorian Port Townsend and the large boat marina and 27-hole Championship Golf Course in Port Ludlow. But please allow us to share their nuances and finer points. This page also provides the weather and rainfall which does vary from Port Townsend in the north and Port Ludlow to the south. For more info, check out the Neighborhoods and Community Resources pages.

Port Townsend

Our Victorian seaport, locally known as "town.” Home to about 9,000 residents, Port Townsend has many wonderful restaurants, charming local shops, four grocery stores, two movie theatres, and is home to the county hospital. Port Townsend has an eclectic and artistic community with many fairs and festivals, musical events, local theatre, and art galleries.

Marine trades have long dominated the landscape since the Port Townsend was founded in 1851. There are two large boat marinas for short and long term moorage.

Water Street is the historic and colorful shopping district downtown where you can find unique art and trinkets, clothes, books, and really anything else you need. There is also a quaint 4-block shopping district in uptown on Lawrence Street with a grocery store, restaurants, movie theatre, and the Wednesday and Saturday Farmer’s Markets that run spring through October. At the Farmer’s Market you’ll find fresh, organic produce, local wines, bakers, fresh caught salmon, and often, live entertainment. It is a special place for visitors and locals alike.

Port Townsend’s non-motorized trail system winds through downtown, up the bluff to uptown, up and over Morgan Hill and down to Fort Worden State Park. In all of these areas, a quick turn of your head and a ‘Kodak moment’ appears. There are awe-inspiring mountain and sea views everywhere. Architecturally speaking, you’ll often find 6000 square foot Victorians on the same block with a 1920’s cabin or a 1970’s rambler.

People value community in Port Townsend and tend to be interested in sustainability, organic foods, and connecting with your neighbors, be it across the garden, at the Farmer’s Market, a community event, or one of the many festivals such as the famous 30-year old ‘Wooden Boat’ Festival. Port Townsend is truly the heart of the Quimper Peninsula.

Discovery Bay

Discovery Bay is west of Port Townsend on the most western side of Quimper Peninsula. It's a protected deep bay with incredible sunset views to Victoria and Canada, San Juan Island and beautiful views of the Olympic Mountains. Most properties are larger parcels around 5-acres and are perched to take advantage of water and Mountain views.

Cape George on Discovery Bay

On the upper western corner of the peninsula is Cape George, a western sunset view community that has three sections for three specific types of living. The ‘Colony’ includes custom built homes with magnificent views. Think of an evening enjoying a peach-colored sky as the sun slowly melts in the ocean. Soon the twinkling lights of Victoria simmer in the night. The ‘Highlands’ area properties are generally about two acre parcels in the trees where you can spread yourself out with a manufactured or stick-built home. Generally these properties have little or no water view. The ‘Village’ is the original area from the 1950s with mostly mobile or manufactured homes. In both the Colony and the Village, each home is positioned to take in the views of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Protection Island above the rooftops of its neighbors.

Community amenities include miles of interesting and walkable beach and trails, a community clubhouse, indoor pool and gym, and special treat: a member’s tool workshop. Don’t have it the right tool and don’t want to buy it? You can borrow it for the day from the Workshop. Cape George is the only marina on Discovery Bay and is a five-minute boat ride to dropping your crab pots in Discovery Bay. Less than 15 minutes from Port Townsend, it is a world away, but still very close!

Kala Point

Kala Point is a community seven miles (15 minutes) south of Port Townsend. Platted in 1982, it is 396-acres of private, custom homes from 1,500 square feet to 5,000 square feet. It’s a balance of living and nature that is maintained through Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions (CCRs). All building lots are a minimum of 1/3 of an acre. For all intents and purposes, Kala Point is a park…huge trees, walking trails, tennis courts, a mile and half of private beach, pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and a small exercise facility in a clubhouse available for private parties or go to weekly TGIF Welcome Parties. In addition to homes, Kala Point also offers duplex-style condominiums and three apartment-style buildings for maintenance-free living. These can range in size from one bedroom, 800-square foot units to three bedroom 2000-square foot and most have open water views. It's an ideal place to retire, with marvelous community activities to participate in. (You only need to get as involved as you want.) 15 minutes to Port Townsend; 20 minutes to Port Ludlow…in the heart of East Jefferson County.

Marrowstone Island

Marrowstone Island is the getaway place from active Port Townsend! The island living is quiet and pastoral. The east side of the island has marine traffic about 1000 yards off-shore which include luxury liners, cargo ships, sail boats, submarines, and sometimes even aircraft carriers out of Bremerton. Quite a site to behold! Mystery Bay, on the west side of the island, is one of the most protected and serene bays in the area. Deep water allows for buoys and a community dock. The one store on the Island in Nordland and sells milk, bread, movies and wine but full shopping is in Port Hadlock 10 -30 minutes away depending on your location. Homes range from no-bank waterfront on Griffith Point Road to the west, to high bank waterfront on the southeast end above Kinney Point State Park. This 76 acre park is part of the Washington's Marine Trail and its campsites exist for the benefit of visitors arriving by human or wind powered watercraft. In between, can be a mobile or a mansion on an acre to a 14-acre parcel. Many options available, but you’ll need a professional tour to make a good decision. The northern tip of the island is Fort Flagler State Park, a 784-acre marine camping park surrounded on three sides by 19,100 feet of saltwater shoreline. The park rests on a high bluff overlooking Puget Sound, with views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains. Many historic buildings remain at this 19th-century-established military fort.

Chimacum & Port Hadlock

Chimacum is named from the Chemakum language was spoken by the Chemakum, a Native American group that once lived on western Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. This area is farm-oriented with cattle, bison, milk cows, corn, hay and vegetables. The hills are still covered with large stands of fir and cedar trees awaiting harvest. The valley floor has 100-year-old farms extending down the basin to the salmon bearing Chimacum Creek. Port Hadlock is a rural village with commerce including a grocery store, gas, video rental, hardware store, Valley Tavern, a flower shop, dentists, and doctor. The large, protected marina at Port Hadlock Old Alcohol Plant is now a popular inn, restaurant and meeting place. The harbor has spectacular views across the bay to Port Townsend and Mt. Constantine in the San Juan Islands. Port Hadlock is a rural town with various properties from small lower-priced, older homes to waterfront high-end homes within walking distance to the boat marina. About 15 minutes to Port Townsend.

Port Ludlow

Port Ludlow is the recreational boater's and golfer’s dream! A quiet harbor with a five-star restaurant, right next to a community of homes that were developed with peace, quiet, views and maintaining value in mind! Nestled on the shores of a quiet cove, Port Ludlow is a residential community of home sites. There are 1,500 to 5,000 square-foot homes and a variety of waterfront or golf course condominiums, plus a championship 27-hole golf course, a 300-slip full service marina, and The Resort at Port Ludlow. There are men's and ladies’ golf groups, bridge clubs, the Port Ludlow yacht club, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, potlucks, social clubs and many other activities available to you. Apart from the many on-site activities, Seattle is only 1.5 hours away, Port Townsend only 25 minutes away to keep you in touch with the arts. You have your choice for grocery shopping, banks, doctors and dentists by going north 10 minutes to Port Hadlock or over the bridge to Poulsbo. Fire service and medical aid car are available on site. Port Ludlow is a bedroom community with a charming personality.

The Port Ludlow Marina is a modern 300-slip full service facility offering permanent and short term moorage for large and small boats. Full service of gasoline and diesel fuels with electricity and water at each slip. The Marina Store offers a limited supply of groceries, sundries, fishing gear, and boat maintenance products for the convenience of boaters. There is also a fish cleaning table, boat launch and a sewage pump station for boats with holding tanks. Property owners at Port Ludlow are offered preferential annual moorage rates.

The Golf Course at The Resort At Port Ludlow includes three 9-Hole Golf Courses: Tide, Timber, and Trail. Each Golf Course is artfully sculpted out of dense forest so no two holes play alike. Designed by Robert Muir Graves, it provides a challenging, yet rewarding Golf experience while preserving the spectacular natural surroundings where deer roam, eagles fly overhead, cedar stumps emerge from water hazards, and wildflowers explode in a rainbow of colors. You'll wind through lush greens and fairways that overlook several Lakes and Stream and enjoy stunning views of Hood Canal, Ludlow Bay and the Olympic and Cascade Mountains.

Weather & Rainfall

We are in a "rain shadow." That means the clouds get caught on the Olympic Mountains to the west, go around to Port Angeles to the north, and south to the Hood Canal. The clouds then gather rain over the sound and dump it on Seattle! So, if you're watching the weather out of Seattle, you're not getting our weather.

In Sequim, which is in the middle of the rain shadow, the average rainfall is 17 inches a year. In the Port Townsend area, we've averaged 21.91 inches in the past seven years. (High year was 28.5 inches. Low year was 16.91 inches.) To put this in perspective, Seattle is sprinkled with between 30 and 40 inches of rain each year. The southern end of the Hood Canal gathers 84 inches a year. Hard as it may be to believe, our area is actually in a sun belt!

Temperatures

As a rule, this area does not get overly cold or hot. We can get down to 19 or 20 degrees at night in January and/or February in a really cold year. The daily temperature in the winter is in the 40s to low 50s. In March through June, we see 50s into the 60s. Over the summer, it's gorgeous here. We have temperatures in the 70s and even up into the 80s.

Port Townsend is closer to the water and tends be the warmest microclimate in East Jefferson County. Port Hadlock, Kala Point are nestled inland to be a bit cooler and Port Ludlow to the south can be 5 degrees cooler and when it snows, can get 5-6 inches.

Wind

Actually, we call them breezes…cool breezes. Granted, in the winter coming up from the south, the breezes can get up to 50 mph, but winds over 29 mph happen only seven to nine days a year. That does not mean all day either. This keeps the skies clear and views beautiful! Port Townsend is exposed and has the constant prevailing southern breeze. This keeps the sail boats active and the skies clear. Kala Point, Port Hadlock and Port Ludlow are not as exposed and have greater tree protection. When the Arctic Blast comes down from the north, Cape George and North Beach area get the first of the clearing skies and the most chill. Due to our prevailing winds, the amount of fog is isolated to about 10-15 days a year. The local winds are a part of the Olympic Peninsula charm, bringing us beautiful sailboat scenes and periodic white caps.